I went to an exhibition at Geffen Contemporary MOCA last week. The exhibition is titled “Trinket.” The huge flag in the picture is a major installation work in the exhibition. It has 51 stars on it. Around the flag, there are four large fans blowing it. It is lighted by many Lekos hanging on a batten or on the floor. They are programmed in a specific way. The Lekos could be all on or all of or partially on. The lights give viewers an atmosphere, which is kind of conspiratorial. 

This past weekend I was excited to see sweet smell of success. The show was spectacular in all ways. I enjoyed watching talented people perform and it made me proud to be a student of the arts. The lighting of the show was really amazing to watch. Darrin out did himself for this show. It makes me want to become a lighting designer. My favorite scene of the show is the opening scene. That moment in the show really captured my eye and made me want to watch the rest of the show. I liked how he lit the pillars on stage and made them change color. It reminded me of the pillars near LAX. I just remember flying how from out of state or out of the country and seeing these lights. In fact, I remember when they were builbut overall I enjoyed the show.

I couldn't get a picture but this weekend has been a lot of moving cause I had to shift houses. It was super hot and the sun was bearing down on me. As I loaded things onto the car and then we drove to our new house and it looked like there was water on the road but as we got closer to that spot it disappeared! Same thing kept happening and then it took a while for me to realize that it was the sunlight that was reflecting off the road. It looked like there were ripples on the road of a small pond of some sort. Maybe that was because the road was slightly ups and downs but it looked so cool the way the sunlight tricked my eyes into thinking there was water on the road, with just the way the road  reflected the light! I also remember thinking, "we are in drought why would someone waste this much water." and then thinking "how come the water hasn't dried up quickly with all this heat".
If anything, seeing everyone's posts and then the whole 50C class in general has made me fall more in love with light and all that it does!


P.S: Not sure if you all read other people's posts, but in case you do, Good luck on finals folks!

Paint the Night Parade

This picture was taken from the Paint the Night Parade. I really loved how Disney managed to merge together an electrifying, almost club-like feel while still keeping that element of magic to the lights in this parade. The lights were synchronized with a remix of Owl City's "When Can I See You Again." The movement really added to the upbeat feeling of the parade. There was a rainbow of bright colors in this show. Each float had a color theme that was associated with the movie. Disney was "painting the night" with lights in quick, bold strokes that were very dazzling. It was almost overwhelming because the lights were so bright and so up close. It kind of reminded me of pointillism. It also reminds me of fireworks. In the first float, the lights behind Tinkerbell look like a poof of pixie dust that swirl together to create a kind of vortex that invites the audience to get sucked into the excitement and energy of this parade.  Tinkerbell's wings and dress are lighted, but it bugged me that we couldn't see most of the cast members' faces, but I understand that the designers had to be selective. The show was focused on the spectacle of the floats more than the face characters. I thought it was interesting that the characters in suits were given more face light than the live characters. This light parade is a great way to end the night for most of the guests.

Boeing Boeing 101

At the beginning of the quarter I finished up my last two units of Drama 101 by helping out with E Hang. In this time I was able to see, start to finish, the complications that come with being a lighting designer. Ebony was able to deal with these complications and work around them and with them. I realized that some times you are going to have to deal with creative differences with people that you may be working with for the sake of the success of the performance and show as a whole. While creative differences can be troublesome and aggravating they are much easier to deal with than technical issues, such as the dimmers of the Little Theatre burning out shutting down at random intervals throughout the show. While al of these complications arose Ebony did an absolutely amazing job overall and was able to work with the issues she was presented and the final product that presented itself onstage, while it may not have been her exact creative design from start to finish, it was wonderful and the show would not have been what it was without her exceptional input and contribution.

Hotel Room Lighting

So I'm just chilling in a hotel room right now because my family is in town and why stay at my apartment when I can stay at this shmance hotel. I was staring blankly ahead thinking, "hmm I have no idea what to write about," and then I realized I could right about what is right in front of me.

In the picture is my younger brother sitting at a table which is in front of a mirror. What I'm fascinated by in this image is the contrast between the light surrounding the mirror and the light within it. I guess this could easily become a discussion of mirrors (they're scientifically baffling) but it's so strange to me how the lamp on the table can illuminate the surrounding room but not the world within the mirror. Does that make sense? I guess what it comes down to is that the mirror is a 2D world so we are just seeing a flat portrayal, and the light's effect on the opposite wall. This is kind of making my brain hurt. Mirrors are weird. Overall, I find it to be very awesome how--since that light is positioned there--the reflection in the mirror looks like a different room than that outside of it since there's such a big contrast. Light is cool, you guys. 

4.48 Psychosis

Having had worked on 4.48 Psychosis since around week 5 I have had the honor of working with some really awesome people. One of which was lighting designer Kyle Swatzell, the work that he was able to do with the blank template of a performance space that we had was absolutely inspirational. Because the script of 4.48 is so nondescript it gives you the freedom to really explore whatever you want in the way of design. But with that freedom I imagine comes great challenge because you are literally creating something from nothing. Our performance took place in a rehearsal space in the Contemporary Arts Center which makes hanging lights almost impossible so it was necessary that Kyle used his skills in guerilla lighting design using clip lights clipped to PVC pipe and wireless remotes to program and cue lights. The final product was absolutely amazing and the production would not have been as successful as it was without his contribution.

SSS

I had the privilege this quarter of serving as assistant scenic designer for Sweet Smell of Success. It is the first time working on a musical and it was the first time going thru tech week with a lighting designers point of view as well. I was really surprised by the technology of lights and I was also surprised that the school could actually afford color scrollers and moving lights. It made me realize how simple technology was making theatrical designs. Instead of  filling up all of the electrics pipes with lighting instruments, Darren just needed a couple of lighting instruments, color scrollers and moving lights to light Sweet Smell of Success. During tech I remember Darren and Lonnie were changing colors thru the use of their Ipad and instead of manually changing gels or turning on and off lights, the scrollers did all the hard work. In fact, I was more intrigued by Darren changing colors at the push of a button than I was of making sure the scenery looked right. I feel this was a good way to finish off a quarter of lighting design and seeing it all in action. I also am impressed of how technology has advanced in lighting design and I'm curious where it will go next (I still think moving lights are the future of lighting design).

Miniature Bike Lights

As I began packing up my apartment yesterday I found some of my old bike lights. I have three: A tail light, a headlight and a helmet light. The tail light is a series of 5 incandescent minature bulbs that have three settings (solid on, blinking, and chaser). The bulbs are clear with a solid red plastic cover over them that act as a gel. This light is most like a cyc or strip light. The headlight is made up of three LED bulbs that has three settings (solid on, fast blinking and slow blinking). The bulbs are arranged in a triangular shape with a plastic convex lens that magnifies and creates one solid pool of light with clear edges. This light is most like a Leko. The helmet light consists of one incandescent bulb in the center of a concave reflector. This light has on one function: on and off. This light is most like a par can (it even has a hot spot in the pool of light).

Since this is the last blog that we will be doing for this class, I will be talking about the city that I came from, the city of Sacramento. I know hat here in Orange County, we have other places to visit such as Disney Land, Hollywood, the fair, ect... With that said, lots and lots of lights are in support of these events. But in Sacramento, we do not have any special locations like that. We're just a city, a city that's filled with trees and poverty. But what have caught most of my attention when I was a little kid is the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. They used to light it up every night for tourists and people to come and visit. But nowadays, they don't anymore. The picture that I included is how the bridge supposed to look like. With that said, I love the color of the bridge. It is very calm, as though you can sit on top of the bridge and just overlook over the city. The white side lights along the side of the bridge helps illuminate the modern look of the bridge. The yellow/orangish light helps to maintain the antique look and feelings in order to keep the keep the tourists coming back for more. Especially at night, if you are sitting at the river below it and look up, it is one of the most fascinating scene that you have never encountered. I am proud and happy to share this moment with you all.

Club Lighting and Concert Lighting

As someone who produces house music and DJ's I'm constantly in clubs and going to music festivals and one thing that absolutely makes or breaks the experience is the lighting. Lighting is a huge part of the experience because it adds mood and atmosphere, especially in a club setting. What impresses me most is that lighting isn't necessarily planned beforehand, reason being that all DJ's mix according to the crowd vibe, therefore there are no planned moments or planned cues so the lighting designer must improvise and just like the DJ feel the crowd and gauge where they're at and cue lighting in the moment accordingly. There is a huge respect for lighting designers of all trades and while stage lighting and concert lighting are two very different entities they both enrich and add to the experience of going out.

Wearable lights!

I am currently working on 4.48 Psychosis, one of the DCP’s here on campus, and one of my costume pieces is stitched with these wearable electronic lights. I think they are so awesome. These particular lights have a microphone attached to them so they turn on and off and change colors with any sound. One of the other girls in the show gets to wear them on a skirt. Her lights have a motion sensor so the lights flash every time she moves around. We wear these costumes when we are dancing, and its like the little lights dance and move with us!  I have always loved wearing anything flashy or reflective like sparkles and sequence while dancing, so I am so excited to wear this costume which has actual lights! I feel like such a magical creature while wearing this. I literally have light beaming out of me with this costume, and I just think that is so cool. 

My brother has a talent for pumpkin carving and lighting them on fire. I, unfortunately, did not inherit this talent. I’ve always had such an issue distinguishing how the light will pass through the pumpkin – what light will be seen, what won’t. I always had the hardest time following patterns to tell what needed to be cut and what didn’t. But I digress, I share this photo because it is 1) totally badass and 2) because I think it demonstrates the idea of negative space and how gobos are used and created. Jack-o-lanterns product a similar effect as gobos – only specific light is shown through due to the pattern cut in the piece. Gobos play more with shadow than pumpkins do, but the principle is the same. The pumpkin is being manipulated to only reveal specific light to create a visual effect. If I had the pumpkin carving gene, I would play around with these ideas more – but alas, I’ll have to make my brother do it.

Night to Day

As we are approaching on Finals week, this comes with the all too familiar experience of all-nighters. It's never a pleasant feeling dealing with the grogginess and heavy eyes but the event in which the night sky begins to change its color makes for a great observation. The idea of the sun rising usually associates with the colors of the sun itself with oranges, yellows, etc. but in choosing color for theatrical lighting I've learned it is important to pay attention to choices realistically to setting. From my room, through the window the traveling of the sun changes the light and color of a black to various shades of blue, getting lighter and lighter as time passes. Just an important discovery I've made as far as color connection to memories of being awake through the night and onto the next day.

Shadows

One of the most fascinating things that have stuck with me throughout the quarter was when one of the TA's or Jaime mentioned that lighting designers are actually shadow workers. It is so interesting to me that creating shadows on the face or on the floor can mean so many different things. The artistic and expressionist side of lighting can go to the fullest extent of shadowing. Shadow's help human beings so much, it is how we can tell what time of day it is, if someone is behind us, what to maybe stay away from. In the shadows of buildings and tree's is how humans have learned to stay cool from the sun. Shadow's serve much more purpose and hold incredible amounts of meaning. I noticed different shadows that happened through out the day. Since i'm mostly inside the studio all week I noticed the shadow of the bars. The overlaps create cool patterns on the floor much like how a gobo would. After taking this class I'm much more aware of a shadows presence, because I have become accustomed to looking for light.

Sweet Smell and Light

This past weekend, we opened up Sweet Smell of Success in the Claire Trevor Theatre. Throughout tech rehearsals and the past couple of shows I had an opportunity to steal a glimpse at all of Darrin's glory and I feel that the lighting concept is a vibrant and well thought out representation of the story that is being told. Audience members have noticed that this show solely takes place at night and that the lighting and shadows have brought out that concept nicely. Unfortunately, as I am a pit singer, I don't have the opportunity to see how the light feels on stage but just by looks of color and position I know it must be a great addition to mood.

To me light has always been fascinating. The other day while I was going on a car ride, the sun was super bright and unfortunately I didn't have sun glasses and so had to use my hand to cover my eyes. It was quite blinding actually. Something I noticed after was the my eyes had gotten used to the bright light that when we stopped and went inside a cafe which had dim lighting my eyes shifted through a multitude of colors, before getting adjusted to the actual light in the cafe. It was like a true revelation that sunlight indeed comprises of all the colors within itself.

Random Light and Darkness

Recently I have been noticing random brightening and darkening of my vision. Since it has some inclination of light, I decided to add it here. Whenever I am doing something or paying attention to a lecture, everything will become bright and white for a half a second. My whole eyesight will become white. I become fearful that it is just me dreaming or in the verge of dreaming. Another random thing that happens to me is that when paying attention at something, sometimes the edges of my eyesight becomes dark while the center begins to be grayish. It could be that a lot of exposure to light may have caused me to experience these things. Especially since we are being more expose to light as years pass by, because of many people being glued to a screen, the way we see light might be altered by over exposure. Or even the lack of light might make light unbearable if that person was locked in a dark room all the time. Knowing the possibility that what everyone sees might be different, I wonder if they perceive light differently and have a totally different experience than someone else.

Light and Space

As a child I would always hang around the back of my mother's store and play in this particular alley. Before, the alley was completely empty and solely dirt was shown. Light would reflect off the wall and illuminate the imaginary scene I would create when I was playing when I was a kid. At the end of the alley, a crack of light will come off the sealed up door. I enjoy these subtleties because I would always find it peaceful. The space is secluded without it being too dark or too bright. At times I feel like I am taken to a forest just because of the space and light alone.

Light in the early morning at School

This school year I had to wake up very early in the morning for school and work. The morning  sky is still dark and I walk past the ARC and past the Paul Merage building and the light posts will brighten ever so slightly when I walk by them. At first I thought it was my eyes just adjusting but each day I pass them I start to notice it is the light post. Walking in the morning when it is cold and the sky looks gloomy, these lights really brighten up my mood. The light looks like it highlighting me and it makes me cheery. Since it is just me walking toward school, knowing that something is reacting to my presence makes me feel good. I feel like in places where the outside is mostly dark outside, having light post where the lights acts the same way they do at UCI, that it will help better their mood when walking by.

Light back in time

I woke up one morning with the tv on, displaying a bright blue screen. It covered the whole room which made me feel like I was back home as a kid watching late night cartoons. The light does trick me sometimes because I woke up in rooms where it stays completely dark, making me think I woke up in the middle of the night again: be knows to me, it is morning and sometimes I’m waking up thinking its night but it is the middle of the day. The light does give me an uneasy feeling because my memories as a kid of monsters coming to me at night is in grain in my mind.

Pretty show or Pretty foe.

I went to Disneyland Tuesday night with a friend and basically had an experience because the entire time I was there, all I could think about were all of the lights and how expensive the bill was to pay for them. There were a lot of stores with marquee signs< and i spent most of my time trying to figure out how I would light each scene of the play. I thought it was very interesting that there were so many lights around. I watched the fireworks show for the first time inside the park. Though I was fascinated by the bright colors and noise, I began to wonder how much pollution and smog covered the sky. The within the smog a light show appeared, and I felt it was a distraction to take people's mind off of how much smog had accumulated after the fireworks. Though it is a pretty sight with bright lights and loud booms, the fireworks show at Disneyland causes an alarming amount of pollution. Nonetheless, all of the lights and colors gave me inspiration for my project.

Laguna Beach

Isn't if funny how when you're in love things seem a little brighter?
Not sure if this has been scientifically proven or not but it sure does feel like it. This past weekend I celebrated my one year anniversary. We chose to "get away" and spend the day in Laguna Beach.
Lately Irvine has had this bright and somewhat ominous overcast to it. However, on Saturday the sun shined through and the colors were extremely rich. The colors that stood out to me the most was the green of the grass and the blue water. After taking this class I think those colors stand out to me the most because of the cones we have in our eyes. I think I perceive the ocean as beautiful because it is multicolor and it has a gradient affect due to the shallowness and the deepness of the water. The more shallow the water is the more transparent it becomes and the blue color is lighter. As I look out onto the horizon the transparency lessens and I see a deeper blue. I also love the ocean blue in comparison to the sky because of the natural textures it has.

A Dinner with Parents

I took this photo the day I was celebrating my parent’s birthday. I enjoyed this picture because it set up a tranquil ambiance. The room was very dark and the lights that you can only see were from these. What it reminds me a lot of are camp or bon fires. Which is cool because it takes us back when we hunters and nomads bonding together over a fire. I wonder if that was the attention of the restaurant owner when he set up these tables. The only faces that I can clearly see are those sitting on my table; the light makes us focus only those around us. The light did made me feel warm inside and made me enjoy the company of my parents a little bit more.

Sunlight through a cold one

The other day, I couldn't help but notice the sun shining through my beer and the vivid, glowing, yellow color it cast on my hand. This Light shined through a liquid medium of a darker color creating a new color and in trying to pick this color in the Rosco book, my conclusion led me to #312 Canary. I'm not sure if this color would be the same when used on actual lights but by just looking through first looks this would be my guess. 

I saw these two PAR cans at the front of a Montblanc store. I am surprised that they use theatrical lights at a non-traditional theater place, and they also hang them in such a obvious place. It makes the space looks theatrical, especially with the two cases under the counter. The lights become part of a scenic design of this show window. 

The lighting adds accent to their products. It makes the watches look more beautiful, shiny, and attracting. The watches at the right side stands out to my eyes compared to the ones on the left. I feel the PAR at the left is not pointed to the right angle as the watches on the left side is not well lighted. It looks like that they are lit by the florescent light outside of the store, which makes them look flat. 

How to explain light

Last week I was driving with my mother in L.A. and the typical conversation about school came up. I started explaining to her about the lighting class and how light affects the atmosphere of a play and she asked me, "What is light"? This has to be the simplest question out there but I didn't know what to answer her, I didn't have an explanation for what light is and I gave her the usual, "Light is energy" answer. She wasn't satisfied by that answer so I started telling her that light is energy and also a measure of speed and that sun light gets to us in 8 minutes. Basically I started b.s.ing my way across so that I didn't sound like an idiot, and when I dropped her home I started thinking deeply on what light is and I started reminiscing on my childhood and I used to thing that light was electricity, and even now at the age of twenty I still don't know what light exactly is. In high school I used to be really good in physics but I never thought of the question of light and its relevance to electricity. In the end I resort back to the "light is energy" answer, since I can't think of a more detailed explanation.

Sweet Smell Tech

We have been in tech for Sweet Smell of Success for the past 3 days. Its been a relatively stress-free tech for the cast. We have been blessed with a fabulous crew and read of designers. I've also found it enjoyable to watch Darrin adjust cues on stage and realize I can recognize what he's doing (adjusting intensity, changes colors, etc.) It makes tech less monotonous for me as an actor.

Night Sky

This week, I have been up much later than I normally would have been, and have had the chance to appreciate the faintly lit sky occurring in the early hours of the morning. Each night it possessed a different tint ranging from orange, coral, faded blue, and even grey (as pictured). It was fascinating to note the changes in color from night to night. Usually I would be sleeping through this picturesque scene; I just assumed the sky would be completely dark, appearing black. This sky appears to be illuminated by the accumulation of city lights throughout areas of Irvine, which allows for more color to be seen, and less stars to be realized in the sky. I thought the backdrop of faint light was gorgeous, and the illumination made me feel safe. Our day’s natural progression of light is striking and breathtaking.

Reflection

I'm thinking about reflection.

I grew up with three brothers and for a long time throughout childhood, an easy way to mess with each other was to shine light reflected off a watch or phone in each other's faces.

In a show I'm currently working on, a character uses an iPad on stage and the lights cause fairly sizable spots of light to bounce around the stage as she moves the tablet.

Sometimes if I accidentally leave a CD in the passenger seat, it can glare into my eyes, making it extremely difficult to drive.

Light is really powerful. Obviously, when you think about the sun or football stadiums it's easy to acknowledge the power of light, but I'm awed by the way it can bounce off an inch of glass with such intensity. It's such a common (and usually irritating) phenomenon that we forget how unbelievable it is. Even after having taken this class and learned more about the science of light and reflection, I'm crazy impressed.

There is a unimaginably large ball of gas, millions of miles away, that has the potential to reflect off a watch-face and blind a driver, causing a car accident. I guess that's kind of a morbid hypothetical example, but I think its telling of how powerful and influential light can be. It's magic.

A Green Room

I was at Disneyland last week and managed to snap this picture in the art studio place in California Adventures (I don't remember exactly what it's called). The room lighting changes according to the pictures being projected onto the walls. In this moment the lighting was aimed towards establishing the setting for the Jungle book. I did my best to get the sources, pictures, and the lighting on the bodies which explains the quality. However, you are still able to see how the lighting sets a definite jungle feel as if we're standing under giant green trees in the middle of the day as some orange lights are also visible. The exaggeration of the color and expressionism give it that outwardly disney feel. This tactic is used in almost all of their attractions and its intent is very successful as we feel we are actually living within these worlds they have created for us.

Real talk – I took this picture Christmas Day 2013 from Carlsbad, CA. I stood there talking pictures for like 20 minutes because it was so perfect. But even in nature you can see the balance of warm and cool colors. There is the bright yellows and oranges of the sun, but the sky is red, purple, and magenta. And the sea, while still reflecting the sky, also reflects the darkness (the deep blues and purples) of the atmosphere. The more I stare at this picture, the more I realize that trying to emulate the perfection of nature on stage is darn near impossible. I would love to see this on stage, I find it so powerful and evocative. Even to use this light cue not to represent a sunset but a powerful expressionists moment. Where could it go in Glass Menagerie? I might use it to light Tom’s last monologue – which is such an incredible moment for him, the ending of one chapter in his life, the beginning of a new one. The regret of leaving Laura, but the fire set in his soul. 

So I took my students to a conferences in Santa Ana College last weekend. One of the workshops that they had was for students to be able to learn the basics of our constellations in the sky in the planetarium. One thing that had caught most of my attention was the idea of lights in the sky, especially in the northern hemisphere, which was called "the aurora". I was fascinated by the idea of how the sun can release a high amount of solar energy every 11 years, which combine with the earth's magnetic field to create these beautiful colors. I love bright colors, and seeing this had made me so happy. In this picture, the combination of colors in the sky stood out the most due to the dark sky. The darker the sky is, the brighter these aura are going to be. I would love to go and observe this amazing event one day.

I’m sure many people have seen this picture floating around Tumblr and Pintrest – but it really stuck with me! This light replicates the effects of a gobo – a shadow effect. I think this really brings home the idea that shadows can be more significant than the light. My coworker and I were actually talking about how difficult it is to create something like this because you can’t necessarily just think about what is there, you need to think about the negative space. On another note, for as awesome as this chandelier is – why would someone put it in their house? What type of space would this chandelier be useful for? Rainforest Café? A jungle or swamp themed attraction? The color of the light could be more menacing or peaceful?